There are plenty of players to praise for their play Sunday in the Eagles' 24-18 win over the Jaguars in London.
I want to give a little credit to two guys who probably didn’t get enough.
Josh Perkins played just seven snaps in the game. Shelton Gibson played just two. Neither guy had a catch, but both made huge blocks that helped the Eagles get points and a win.
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This is the Eagles’ first touchdown of the game and it comes with 38 seconds left in the first half on a 32-yard pass to Dallas Goedert. I have circled Perkins near the top of the line. This play is a great design. The Eagles’ offensive line is going to get the whole play slanted to their left as Carson Wentz rolls right.
It is going to take a while for this play to develop though. Alshon Jeffery (at the bottom of the screen) is going to take away the single high safety, which will leave space for Goedert to get open.
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As you can see, Jeffery is about to take away that safety and leave a spot for Goedert in the middle of the field. But Perkins has a 1-on-1 block against Calais Campbell. That’s a tough ask of a third tight end who is a converted receiver. But Perkins does a nice job just after the snap. It’s not like he’s going to pancake Campbell; he’s just got to slow him down.
As Wentz plants his back foot, Perkins is going to finish his block by using Campbell’s momentum against him. This isn’t a block in the back, but it gets close. I’d call this a block in the side and a great job by Perkins. Once Goedert catches the ball, he does the rest.
Here’s a closer look at that block:
From the time Perkins engaged with Campbell, it took Wentz around 2.9 seconds to release the ball. Obviously, his rolling right bought a lot of that time, but this block from Perkins was huge.
This next play came on the touchdown in the third quarter. It’s 1st-and-10 and the Eagles are about to run a screen pass to absolute perfection that gets Wendell Smallwood in the end zone for a 36-yard touchdown.
The play design itself was great and the Eagles executed it really well, but I want to highlight Gibson. Gibson is circled at the top of the screen. It’s his job to clear out his cornerback and then block downfield.
You can see the development of this play. The offensive line does a great job. Peters sells the screen, while Isaac Seumalo and Jason Kelce will be the key blockers outside. Gibson is still breaking down the field to clear out his man.
Gibson does a great job of not blocking too early. When he finally engages Jalen Ramsey downfield, Smallwood is still at the 22-yard line and the block is happening around the 5.
Gibson does a tremendous job of holding the block for as long as he can. He eventually releases before he gets called for a hold. Absolutely textbook.
It helped that Smallwood got over 19 mph on this play, according to NFL’s Next Gen Stats, but Gibson still needed to hold this block for incredibly long. From the time Smallwood caught the ball, it took him 5.53 seconds to cross the goal line. Ramsey was Gibson’s responsibility for that whole play. Heck, he even held the block downfield for 2.65 seconds. Really impressive.
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I love plays like these because they show how important it is for these backups to make the most of their opportunities. They had a combined nine snaps Sunday, but Perkins and Gibson still made an impact.
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